Play Online Correspondence Chess at SchemingMind

Amberley excelled at chess - one mark, Watson, of a scheming mind.

The Adventure of the Retired Colourman, Conan Doyle

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Welcome to SchemingMind Correspondence Chess Club, where you can play correspondence
chess and chess variants against
394 active chess players
from all around the world! If you are already a member, you can log on to the site
by entering your username and password in the boxes to the left.

No, I'm not a member yet.

In that case we invite you to try out our service free for an introductory period, we encourage you to register
for a free trial membership of fifty games. It will offer you the opportunity to
play for free for as long as you need to fully evaluate our service, and finally
to decide if it's worth the modest annual membership fee we ask from all our established
members to cover our running costs (there is a scholarship program available for
those who are unable to contribute this fee but wish to participate in the club).
SchemingMind is not a commercial organisation, all our staff contribute their time
voluntarily, and you will never see unsightly syndicated advertising on our pages.

Okay, but what exactly happens here?

SchemingMind is an online correspondence chess club. The most important aspects
in which correspondence chess differs significantly from 'over the board' chess
are time controls, analysis method and the social exchange of messages with friends
and strangers from all over the world. Correspondence games usually last for several
weeks or months, (even years in some cases!), and while you contemplate
your move, you are free to set up a chessboard and move the pieces around, or consult
a book. The only thing you are asked not to use are chess-playing computer programs.
This mode of play makes correspondence chess attractive for many kinds of players:

serious chess players, who want to devote a lot of time to analysing a move before
sending it,

improving players, who want more time to study their mistakes,

busy players, who don't usually have time to sit for a serious game, but can afford
spending several minutes every few days to decide on a move,

players treating chess as a social activity, wishing to play just for fun and maybe
meet interesting people and chat during games,

You can decide yourself how much time and effort you want to put into your games.
You might want to play several games at the same time, or join tournaments where
you play, as there may be days or even weeks delay between moves.

That sounds interesting! What exactly do I need to play?

Not much! You do need a valid e-mail address and about two minutes of free time
to set up a trial account, but that's about it, we'll even set up your first game
if you like. You play from your web browser, so no additional software is needed.
Our server will keep track of your games, your opponents' moves, and the clocks.
We will send you an email whenever one of your opponents moves, so you can always
keep up to date with your games.

Will I be able to find a suitable opponent here?

Absolutely! Currently we have
355
established members of all levels actively
playing on the site. There is a rating system, so as soon as you finish some games
and have been assigned a rating, you'll be able to select opponents of a similar
playing strength to your own, you won't get any easy wins, but neither will you
be crushed mercilessly. Or, you can challenge a higher-rated player and try to kill
a giant!

Right. What do I do now?

If you feel that you know enough and want to start playing chess immediately, please
just go here to create your trial account.
Remember, a trial membership gives you full access to the site for free, and you
only need a valid e-mail address to use it. The only differences are that you're
limited to 50 games (although if you feel that's not enough to fully evaluate the
site, drop us a note and you'll be given more); and you don't have access to some
'managerial' options like creating teams or tournaments. If you decide that you
don't like the site, or correspondence chess at all, there is no obligation to continue
as a full member after the trial period. All we ask is that you extend your
opponents the courtesy of finishing your games.

Your e-mail address will never be used for marketing purposes of any kind. The only
messages you will receive are the account activation e-mail and any types of e-mail
reminders you yourself decide to receive by enabling such option in your account.

Here you can read why
exactly a full account is not free, how much it costs and where the money goes,

Here you can check out our 'About us'
page, which covers in detail various possibilities a SchemingMind membership gives
you, including those not mentioned here, like tournaments or league games,

Here you can read some Frequently Asked Questions
and answers to them,

Here is our complete
knowledgebase, built by our members, the SchemingMind Wiki.